Fallen and Forgotten
by PeddlerOfTales
Summary: An ancient secret is discovered by during a meeting of the Radiant heroes. What is the secret you may ask? Why is it important? And where are those wards? Join the Peddler today into his first delving into writing a Dota Fanfiction. Rated T for potential future description of gore.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I hereby declare that I claimeth no ownership over Dota 2**

Chapter 1

In the countless skirmishes against the ferocious Dire troops, the Radiant warriors often found small trinkets and unusual possessions upon the body of those slain. A faded badge, an old dagger, a beautiful bracelet, a shield with the engraving of a family crest. Often these trophies were puzzled over, as it was much shared belief among the ranks of the Radiant that the Dire were mindless beings summoned from dark chaotic holes that dot the Hells.

So, it did not confuse the Admirable Admiral when he found a small locked iron chest within a Dire camp that the Radiant had just assaulted and conquered. The chest was tossed into a wagon that Kunkka commandeered for the purpose of storing his trophies and was promptly forgotten by the famed mariner.

About three months later, there came a lull to the seemingly endless fighting between the self aclaimed forces of "Good" and "Evil" when the season of Winter approaches and Frostivus announces its impending arrival with the expected explosion of Greevils. Many heroes took the opportunity to clear out the junk accumulated over the months of fighting, most just selling them off to unscrupulous merchants or throwing them out. A particular Admiral, however, took a bit more attention of his hoard of trophies.

* * *

><p><strong>~One Frosty Morning~<strong>

"KUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNKKKKAAAA!" shouted a rough, deep voice from the midst of the forest that surrounds the Radiant base. Kunkka, clad in only his pantaloons and wielding a rune inscribed saber staggers out of his wagon at the outskirts of the base and slashed his weapon at the source of the sound. The sword ripped through the air in a violent wave and the crackling sound of a nearby tree falling could be heard.

"Tttttidehunter! Show yyyyyourself you ovvvvvergrown mullet!" shouted Kunkka as he shiver frantically. He tried to run towards the copse of trees just beyond the camp but falls face first into the snow as his noble quest for vengeance was blocked by a thick covering of snow sheeting the ground. A fiery haired fire sorceress garbed in a warm fur-lined dress floats over, attracted by the commotion. She noticed the uncomfortable situation of her friend, and snorted as she melted the snow around him.

"Kunkka? What's with your violent morning escapade?" She asked, barely suppressing her smile. "Rizzwrack rubbed off on you or something?"

"If yyyyou didn't nnnnnotice, I wwwwas responding to a certain Krkkkkraken howling for my bbbblood." Kunkka said as he scowled at her apparent amusement at his admittedly not-well-thought-out plan of assault.

"What? Assault a Servant of Maelrawn in your pantaloons? Here i was, thinking you finally cracked, when in reality, you're just carrying out a brilliant tactical approach to murder a heavily armored Kraken that for some reason, hates your guts and tries to show it by bashing you with an anchor every time he gets? Besides, he's probably gone by now. Nature's Prophet is patrolling those forests."

"Why do I hate it when you're right." he grumbled and slouches off towards his wooden domicile.

"Some of the heroes are holding a bonfire gathering this evening!" she called after him. "It's going to be held at the fountains and quite a lot of people are going. You should come."

"Don't want to. If you need me, I'll b-"

"There's rum. And the blacksmith's expecting a group of merchants that night. Might be a good place to sell off a part of your hoard.

"In that case, I guess I'll go" Kunkka said slowly.

"Alright, meet you there. Yunero wants me to thaw out his pond, and I promised to do that this morning."

"You don't need to invent an excuse to leave my charming company."

She rolled her eyes at his antics. "Finally woken up, have we? Bye."

"Good bye."

* * *

><p><strong>~That Evening~<strong>

Kunkka, dressed up in his battle outfit, sets off to go to this supposed informal meeting. Apparently, the Radiant wanted to discuss a cease-fire between the Dire for the winter season. Quite unimportant to him, he concluded, if wasn't for the fact there was rum, friends, and the possibility to make some coin there. There was an ethereal purple blade that he felt the need to purchase, hanging on the blacksmith mantle. What was its name? Oh yeah, the Shadow Blade. Rumored to be able to turn its wield invisible. Interesting. Thinking about that, he hauled out his collection of rings, bracelets, lockets and other valuable looking trinkets and stashed it into an embroidered sack he found at a Kobold camp. Why the Taskmaster would have needed the sack was unknown to Kunkka, and the information had most likely died out with its owner.

While rummaging around, looking for things a merchant would fancy, he noticed a small metallic chest tossed into the pile. He tried to open it, but it was locked. "Better ask the blacksmith to open it." He thought. "Might have something good inside." So thinking, he sheathed his sword and hauled off his sack and with the chest tucked under one arm, made his way into the darkness towards the fountain.

**A/N: So, this is my first fanfiction written for Dota. Leave me some criticism and stuff, and I'll try to make the subsequent chapters longer. Tell me if you want more details, or what you think of the tone. I'm a bit bad with writing realistic speech, so, bear with me xD.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

On the rocky frost-bit foot hills north of the Kingdom of Slom, a duo was journeying towards the capital of the aforementioned kingdom. One was a hulking spectral green figure, clothed in fur and crowned with gold. His companion was a large armoured man with a horned helmet, leading a horse with glowing red eyes and clad in similar armour. At the moment of affable companionship, all the dogmas of power hierarchy was forgotten by king and Fundamental as they talked amiably of the recent events.

"...and then I said, "YOU WILL ALL NOW SERVE ME, OSTARION, THE KING OF WRAITHS, VOLUNTARILY OR NOT." relayed an amused Wraith King. "You should have seen the look on their faces, Mogul Khan was furious at me for months afterwards."

"I was unfortunate to miss such an event. It would have been quite amusing to me to witness." said the knight in his low, baritone voice. "Even from Claszureme, I had felt the seething chaos emanating from this plane."

"You were in Claszureme? I say Faceless Void was not too happy about it."

"On the contrary, he was honored to be visited by a Fundamental of the Universe."

"What were you doing there anyways?"

"Kaldr had manifested there, threatening to bring time to the Land Outside of Time. I had to negotiate his departure from the realm."

A snort from Ostarion."That ice cube's been overstepping his boundaries lately. He tried to freeze me once when the Ancient's attention was elsewhere. As luck would have it, Doom was nearby and thawed me out quickly."

"Most...troubling..." murmured Nessaj. "Something happened that must have rushed his plans. I wonder what it is. The appearance of Icarus? Or the reunion of the Three Spirits?"

"I suggest that we shouldn't look too deeply into it. That hoary bastard's been scheming for longer than I have. And from what i know of most beings, that's quite an achievement."

"You've forgotten, Ostarion. I've been scheming nearly as long as he has."

"To kill a doddering old horseman who controls the power of light and manifests in a million different universes. I'd wager sentient ice is a bit more complicated that that fool."

"Ezalor's mind is keener than you might imagine, Ostarion. Otherwise, he would not have been the first to break out of the Fundamental co-unity. Besides, there are a lot more than a million universes. As we speak, every second passed creates a new universe. Every single choice or action of a single being in one of the countless universe spawns parallel universes. My quest to stop Ezalor would be impossible to accomplish, unless I manage to convince him to rejoin us."

"Let's not talk about this subject, I'd rather we stayed on more mundane matters. For instance, i spy with my one good eye, an engineer. Guess which one?"

"Boush."

"Exactly. And who is that accompanying him?"

"I believe that is Zeus, the fallen thunder god."

"Never heard of him. What realm does he hail from?"

"An still infantile realm on the edge of the Universe of Universes. It was defiled by Ezalor to a considerable degree, but surprisingly, it was the Enigma who retaliated against Ezalor. As we speak, countless of Engima's spawn ravage Ezalor's defenseless forces within that plane. Zeus himself hails from a planet full of humans, some eof which worships him."

"Sometimes, your omnipresence staggers me friend. Do you think that we could sla-"

"No, the cease-fire."

"Ah, yes. That is the reason for this pleasant recreational time of us! Let us see if we cannot lend our fellow fighters any assistance!"

"Ah but, Ostarion, usually, they are on the **other side** of this war."

"Common courtesy Nessaj. A ruler must needs possess them."

"As you wish, friend."

So saying, the duo fell silent as they made their way towards the two small figures, heading back south towards the Radiant-Dire battlefield. The Radiant heroes quickly became aware of the approaching Dire heroes and tenses up, ready for a fight.

"At ease peasants." said Ostarion."We wish you no harm, only an inquiry of your state of helplessness."

"Well, that's one way to put it." muttered the amused Fundamental.

**A/N: Sorry this chapter's a bit short. It was kinda rushed after my chapter was mainly for setting up another arc and fleshing out the universe. Please leave constructive criticism and some pennies for the Peddler. :D**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A winged shape flitted through the night, dodging through the snow-burdened branches of huge black trees, seemingly on the verge of collapsing. In this great bird of prey's claws, it gripped a fine vellum scroll with the insignia of a dark spired structure outlined in red. A scroll from the Dire. It flapped and flew doggedly through the chilling winter night, as it made its way to the Radiant fountain in the darkness of the night. Along the way, it made a few discoveries for its master. An out-of-place furious scorpion scuttling after a veritable army of greevils. Two winged figures silhouetted in the night. And a particular sodden Admiral lugging a sack of his trophies.

Karroch snorted. Shendel and Draconus just could not stay apart ever since their reunion. Very good for them that he was not one for gossip. He looked about at the fountain area of the Radiant. For this once, the Ancient conceded in not using the fountain to horrifically murder the Dire attendees, and so they gathered within the fountain area itself. Torches and lanterns were scattered throughout the area to illuminate the area for those not fortunate enough to have night vision. Nearby, the shopkeeper was discussing artifacts and gold with a bunch of hardy looking merchants, recently arrived. Some of the mages from both factions were discussing their favored spells, while Lucifer and the Alchemist was discussing the formula of turning creeps, into gold. There was mingling within the Dire and Radiant ranks, but quite little, as paranoia still ran throughout both factions. Only a few, like Rubick and Clinkz had manged to completely ignore the barriers of fraternizing. The former letting his curiosity and sociable nature overcome his admittedly none-existent xenophobia, while the other was, pun not intended, simply chill with the group gathering.

The meeting should be delayed for a bit, he thought. Some of the heroes have not yet assembled, while only a small portion of the Dire actually arrived has arrived; Crixalis seems to be making good time though, he thought as he remembered the scorpion that has been a nuisance to the Radiant ever since it had arrived from its desert. To Father Wild with giant insects, he thought. All of them are such a annoyance and seemed to favor the Dire. A tap from behind shook him out of his reverie and he turned around to find a small hooded overgrown rodent with a shovel. Meepo.

"What do you want, geomancer?" Karroch sighed in with irritation.

"Er...I was just wondering...how come you're called the Beastmaster, but you can only master two animals?" stuttered Meepo, obviously put out by having the first Radiant hero he talked to in peaceful circumstances reacting to him with a less than favorable glare. "I mean." He said hurriedly "How come you can't summon some of them Ellyphents? Or tigers? Boars and hawks seem to be a very limited menangerie for a Beastmas-"

"Sorry, sorry for Meepo's rudeness here! Please don't kill him!" shouted a recently arrived hero, very much similar to Meepo. Karroch blinked, his annoyance quickly replaced with confusion.

"Yeah yeah! If ya kill this fella here, we also die too!" grimly said another...Meepo?

"I know my boundaries guys! You don't need to babysit me like this!"

"Of course we do! You''re the most recent Meepo."

"No! I am!" argued another Meepo.

"Nuh uh. I'm pretty sure you were the second most recent one." Observed one of the Meepos. Meepoes? Meepi? Does it even matter anymore? Karroch shook his head, clearly thinking this was a hallucination. Maybe a nightmare? Hopefully, I'll soon wake up to see the Bane Elemental laughing in front of me. Although it would explain how the rodents managed to be in multiple places at once in the battlefield. Very soon now, a purple grotesque centaur will wake him up and laugh at his gullible min-"

"Unfortunately Beastmaster, you, are not in a nightmare." muttered Atropos, converging upon the spooked wild man. "Although a lot of hi-I mean **their** opponents seem to find me responsible every time they are of a witness to this-" Bane gestured towards the rambunctious bunch. "-event". So saying, the bane elemental floated off towards a group of keen folk.

Karroch shook himself. He had actually achieved the most pitiable of all achievements, sympathy, from the Bane Elemental. How could this day get only worse?

"I'm telling ye, because i was split later on, I get more of the knowledge you guys got!"

"I'm pretty sure it is the opposi-"

"RAMMING SPEED!" shouted a voice, piercing Karroch's veil of self-pity. He looked up to see a huge translucent ship fly through the forest outside of the fountain and crash several hundred meters away. Cries of pain and terror emanated from that position while voices raised in confusion and anger within the informal gathering of Radiant and Dire personages.

* * *

><p>Kunkka grumbled as he dragged his sack forward to the fountain. It should have been a very easy and straightforward trip towards the fountain. It would have it, that is, if not for a mysterious river of water, cutting through the base. A mysterious river, that rose into the air and seemed to drag Kunkka to deposited him in the muck deep inside the Radiant forest. Now, he had to cross almost half an hour's worth of forest. Good thing he had set out early. Why, he thought, when I get my hands on that Morphling! He stopped. What could he do to Morphling anyways. Turn him into a torrent of water? No use. He sighed. About ten minutes later, he was startled to see Sand King crash through the underbush in front of him and rapidly scuttle towards him. He fought his instinct to turn the scorpion into mush and called out.<p>

"Ahoy there Crixalis. What brings you out at this time, to this forest?" He asked, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Greevils. I had confidence in my ability to defeat them, but they had overwhelmed me instead!" grumbled the scorpion. "One of them actually breathed fire at me!"

"That...seems barely believable." Kunkka said, while frowning. "Give me am reason why I should believe you."

Sand King was about to reply but froze, looking at something behind the Admiral's back. He quickly summoned a whirlwind of sand and hid inside of it, camouflaged by the swirling sand particles. "I suggest you look behind you, Admiral. My proof is gnawing at your sack." shouted a disembodied voice from the midst of the storm.

Kunkka looked behind him, and groaned. This, was not his day at all.

* * *

><p>Lightning and electricity cracked in the air after the Wraith King's statement towards the two Radiant travelers. Nessaj looked at the Wraith King, confused. This might spell the end of any treaty or ceasefire if one of them were to attack right now.<p>

"Helplessness? Mortal, you do an injustice towards us! I demand that you retract your earlier statement, or else." said Zeus, livid at the Wraith King's impertinence. As if to punctuate his statement, a brilliant while bolt flew from the heavens and turned a nearby tree into smouldering ash.

"But I am also, far from mortal, thunder god." replied Ostarion calmly. "In fact, how many times have you stood above my remains, convinced of your triumph, and then I, utilizing my determination and charisma, resurrects myself right behind you?" Zeus gestured and bright tendrils of electricity extended from his palm, setting the Wraith King's ragged cape on fire. Ostarion calmly put out the fire with a quick sweep of his hand. "Enough sulking Zeus, all I asked was what you two were doing out here."

"About seven times." muttered the fallen god. "Only seven times did you resurrect like that and surprised me."

"It does not seem like my companion is in the mood for talking. In that case, i shall inform you that our mission is Radiant business and is strictly classified."

"I wonder if your mission intersects with ours." mused the Chaos Knight.

"I had thought you were omnipotent, Nessaj." asked a confused Wraith King.

"There is no such thing as omnipotence for me." replied Nessaj. "In any case, I am just at multiple places at the same time. Far from the "everywhere-at-once" that Io seems to cherish."

"Why should we tell you?" asked Zeus as he ignored the exchange between the two Dire heroes. "I don't even know why we are even talking to you!"

"We could trade information." offered Tinker. Zeus turned to glare at his companion. Tinker shrugged. "Sooner or later, they'll find out anyways."

"That..seems fair." considered Ostarion "Alright, as a gesture of our good faith, we'll share with you our quest first. We are here to silence an old scholar that the Ancient seemed to regard a threat. Why it sent us, I do not know, but I do know that it believes the brute strength we provide would be necessary."

Tinker fell down, shocked. The Thunder God gave an "I-told-you-so" look at the engineer and sheathed his fists in crackling lightning.

"Well, what a coincidence. We were just here to retrieve a certain old scholar that the Radiant Ancient believe to be important and in great danger." said Zeus, as he grinned maliciously.

The two Dire heroes straightened with shock, and glanced at each other and steeled their resolve for the approaching battle. Above them, lightning crashed and shot from the sky, combating against a thick aura of Wraith energy. Nessaj unsheathed his cudgel and gathered a large amount of chaotic energy into a ball on his right gauntlet, preparing to hurl it at one of the enemy. This, would be an interesting fight.

**A/N: Please please be satisfied with this short insertion and call off the assassins. Please guys. I want to rest at night without fear of my life. I swear I'll stop begging and update regularly like a good writer. That's right...lower that flamethrower, Dotalova. Thank you for reading!**

**EDIT: It seems i had labelled this chapter 2. FML.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Dota 2 is owned by Valve Software while DoTA is copyrighted by Blizzard. I own none of them.**

**Chapter 4**

Kunkka turned around and the sighted that greeted his eyes made him swore every single curse and oaths he had ever heard. Since Kunkka was a veteran, nay, a lifelong skimmer of the oceans, his repertoire of curses were vast indeed. Inside his arid and personal storm, Crixalis cringed as swears flow off the Admiral's tongue like water in a canteen held by a parched pilgrim. In their part, the Greevils simply cocked their head in confusion, and some, in delight.

_Crixalis was not joking around when he described the Greevils._ Kunkka thought to himself. Behind him was a large menagerie of Greevils. Some had stubby tails, while some had short tails. Some had large protuding eyes while others had creepily sunken eyes. _They were of every hue, even!_ Kunkka inwardly groaned. There were bright orange ones, white, green, pitch-black, and even one of a surprisingly transluent coloring. _Should this be classified as a herd? A greevil herd? No wait! I have the perfect name! A Greevil Army. Gods, the idea is cringeworthy. Yet, isn't that what's staring me in the face here? A greevil army? Oh...no..._The Admirable turned around jerkily, did a bit of a twirl and sat down heavily upon the frozen ground.

"Admiral! You must drive them away from here!" grounded out the besieged scorpion. "They have in their possesion my Gem of True Sight!"

"You gave them a bloody Gem? What is wrong with you?" shouted the surprised Admiral.

"They forced it away from me!"

"Overpowered by a bunch of Greevils? Or should _I_ say, usurped, Sand _King._" snorted Kunkka "Why are you even inside a sandstorm anyways, you said they had a gem."

"It helps me feel safer."

"The king _scuttles _off with his tail between his legs. _Literally."_

"Very funny Kunkka, that still does not help our present predicament!"

"Right..." Kunkka surveyed the greevils currently arrayed against them. It seemed like the only thing stopping them from throwing themselves upon the two heroes was the translucent greevil who, surprisingly enough, seemed to be their commander. "It seems like the most logical approach here is for me to distract them with my ghost ship. After that, we high-tail it out of here."

"Good plan...that is if the High Greevillych did not understand Claddish..." observed the Scorpion.

"Greevilych?"

"The see-through one."

"This...is not my day."

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS INTRUSION!" thundered a deep voice from among the grove of trees. Out stepped out a bearded man with curved, wooden horns jutting out of his head and wearing robes of woven leaf. The staff he clutched in his hand began radiating power as he surveyed the scene. The Nature's prophet's hand began to shake and his face paled as he rested his eyes upon the Greevilych. "Vermiki...VERMIKI!" Furion screamed with a passion and swung his staff into the air. Violent bursts of energy shot through the ground and struck down countless Greevils. He gestured it again and it turned a nearby grove of snow-bound trees into Treants.

"Mal...Furion...Verodicia's seedling...what...would...you ask...of...us?" The treants asked in their slow deliberating voice. Kunkka observed that their barks were already peeling and their leafs falling. Such an exertion by these trees expended their life-energies in minutes as they sacrificed themselves for the will of their Prophet.

"Trees, FRIENDS! " shouted the Prophet. Glistening tears trail their way down his pale cheeks as he observed the treants. "We have witnessed in our long, long years the coming and going of many Greevils. We have ignored this before, as it seemed but a minor and inconsequential event in our endless cycle of life. But now! NOW! Their bloodthirsty leader the Greevillych has returned! It is OUR duty to put an end to this abomination! This affront to nature!."

"Graah!" said the Greevillych. The greevils cocked their heads to one side, and looked at each other. A few seconds later, their eyes opened wide and they started salivating.

_This...is not good..._

"Graaahhh! Argaaaha Phraash Ssarggges! SSARGGGES PHRAASH ARGAAAHA!" . The greevils did an about face...and stampeded into the group of heroes and treants.

Kunkka did the only thing he could do. "Collision course!" he yelled.

* * *

><p>Inside the Radiant fountain, pure chaos and pandemonium reigned after the sudden appearance and crash of the now infamous ghost of the "H.S.S Rum Gunner". Swords were being unsheathed and powers awakened as some of the more quickly-reacting Dire emissaries prepared for battle and viewed their Radiant counterparts with open hurt and distrust. Voices rang into the night as the various heroes try to settle their confusion. Things were tense, and were ripe for taut, sensible comments. Unfortunately, this was not what had happened.<p>

"Where did that boat come from?"

"Kunkka? KUNKKKKKAAAAAAAA!"

"SHUT UP LUCIFER THAT IS MY LINE!"

"I thought you said there was a cease-fire!"

"Meepo One is having a heart attack!"

"Curious..."

"Please tell me that this is a nightmare..."

"I TOLD YOU PEOPLE AGAIN AND AGAIN, I DID NOT DO IT!"

"With the rushing roar of the spectral ship making its violent voyage from one end of the Earth to the other, my heart felt like it was going to burst apart into a thousand different pieces and scatter out all throughout the ever continuing cosmos. It was only with my bold heart and my adaptation to the endless stress and duties levied onto me as a prominent member of the Ghastly Eyrie mages that i regained control, of my soul and-"

"Did somebody say soul?"

Inwardly, Karroch sighed, dismayed at this scene. Luckily, years and years of constantly honing his voice has given it a delightfully strong volume. A volume that he had constantly put into use at the battlefield. Now, this voice came into use in an entirely different way. "EVERYONE OF YOU PLEASE SHUT UP!" He roared. A heavy, expectant silence fell upon the Radiant Fountain.

**A/N: So...uh...well...I have no excuses for being late one his one guys.. Let's just say i was a bit preoccupied with everyday life.**


End file.
